


Sairai

by Koayyy



Series: White, Blank Paradise [8]
Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Burning, Fallen!Sandalphon, Lucilius' A+ Attitude, M/M, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 08:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15682143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koayyy/pseuds/Koayyy
Summary: Sandalphon is disposed of, and in his ashes, another archangel rises to greet Lucifer.





	Sairai

**Author's Note:**

> Me, trying to complete my assignments in peace:  
> My brain: Hey! Hey! What if- *shoves this entire idea in my face repeatedly  
> Me, pushing my assignment aside: Oh, you know what? Fine 
> 
> Written on a whim, incredibly bad quality but enjoy!!!

When his day of disposal was decided, he did not inform Lucifer. If he can’t be useful to him, then at least he’ll do him a favor by staying out of the way. He keeps himself in his room, spending his last few days just rotting away.

The day comes in a blink of an eye. Astrals slam open his door, and despite the bindings, Sandalphon struggles with all his might as he’s pushed through the white corridors. He’s led to the labs, but they descend many stairs before he is released and thrown into a large, dark room.

He can’t see anything, but the strong smell of ash and lingering smoke makes simple as to how he’ll spend his last moments. He pushes himself up and still struggles against his bindings. Is it due to his instinct to stay alive, or is it just his refusal to die without being of any help to Lucifer, it’s hard to tell.

In the heavily enclosed room without any sound, all he hears is the distinct ringing in his ears he’s all too familiar with. The Astrals say nothing, and there is no warning when the room suddenly lights up in shades of yellow and orange. The fire consumes him without mercy, and it _burns_.

His first mistake is breathing in. The heated air goes through his nose, into his throat, until it settles in his lungs and his insides feel like they are being cooked. Was that him screaming? He can’t tell through the pain that feels like it’s encasing his entire body and refusing to let go.

After what felt like an hour though was probably only a few minutes, he can’t feel most of his limbs anymore. The only thing he can see is the blood red behind his eyelids and nothing else. He can’t feel most of it, but the body parts that he _can_ feel suffer from the agony of repeated healing and destruction. He can’t breathe, but the heated air that had already entered had already done the job.

And he thought that the experiments was the worse he would feel. He would scoff at his past self had his throat could still work properly.

The flames are faster than his regeneration, he had realized all too long ago, but only having the mental strength now to bother with the thought. Once his body had finished burning away, his core will be next. He can’t imagine the pain it will cause, but he won’t need to imagine any time soon.

This will be his end, being burnt alive in the depths of the Astral labs with his existence remembered and forgotten by no one.

Or, that’s what he thought, until a voice makes its way into his head.

“Don’t you want to live? To be useful to Lucifer?” a man’s voice rings in his ears through the screams. He can’t answer, but the questions echo along with his answers in his mind.

_I do!_ he screams, _I just wanted to be useful to him! That’s all I’ve ever wanted!_

If he can just be useful to him, then he doesn’t need anything else. He can take away his consciousness, he can take away everything that he is. But as long as he’s useful to him then it’s all that he needs.

The voice laughs. “Then accept this. Consider it a... gift, though it might hurt~!”

He doesn’t care about the pain, he can’t care about it or he’ll shatter-

Something pierces through his core, like an energy arrow went straight into his exposed core and out the other end. The pain feels worse than his skin burning off as it spreads into every corner of his insides. His back feels like it’s being split in half.

Then it settles, the excruciating pain disappears instantly, and behind his eyelids is just black. The feeling in his body returns slowly, he feels his feet, then his foreign fingers, then finally the rest of his body.

Sandalphon opens his eyes. A magic powered lamp is shining down on him from above and a full body mirror is in front of him. It takes him a good minute to absorb everything.

The reason why his fingers felt foreign was because they were dyed black and sharp like claws. There are two pointy black horns growing from the top of his head, and his wings... he stretches his six wings to take a closer look at them.

The top and bottom pair are black and webbed with sharp spikes at their tips. His middle original pair used to be brown and white, but now it’s been fully dyed in a dark shade of black.

He’s fallen. He didn’t burn to death and now he’s a fallen angel and he will never be able to be useful to Lucifer-

His incoming panic attack is interrupted by footsteps behind him. A figure approaches in the mirror and he turns around to properly face them.

“Welcome, my brethren,” the fallen woman says as she approaches, a gentle smile on her face as her long light orange hair flows behind her.

He can only stare at her in surprise.

“Don’t worry, it might take some time to get used to your new form, but I assure you it’ll be much better than what you had last.” the fallen raises her hand to gesture to herself. His eyes follow her hand, then he looks at his own clawed hands. He bites his lip and notices his sharp fangs for the first time as he tries to think of a reply. He never wanted to be fallen, he just took the offer to stay alive and figured maybe he could be useful another way-

The fallen places a hand on his shoulder, and he looks up to notice her patient red eyes.

“I’m Olivia. What’s your name?” she asks, her grip on his shoulder growing a bit tighter.

He opens his mouth to reply. It feels so strange to be able to talk properly again after his throat was cooked combined with the screams, but it’s... maybe better than ceasing to be.

“Sandalphon.”

 

* * *

  
He comes back to the labs, and the for the first time in a while he tries to have coffee with Sandalphon again, he’s greeted by an open door and a too tidy room. Lucifer is unusually in a hurry as he walks through the corridors.

“My friend, have you seen Sandalphon?” he asks, keeping the sudden sense of unease out of his voice as he approaches Lucilius.

“My my, aren’t you in a hurry,” despite his best efforts, Lucilius still notices as he says, “haven’t I told you? Sandalphon was just waiting to be disposed of. His time simply ran out when you were gone.”

It’s hard to remain expressionless to the information presented to him.

“You disposed of him...?” Lucifer says in a voice filled with surprise, despite already aware of the answer waiting for him. He is Lucilius’ own creation, so it’s no surprise that his creator can pick out all of the small signs he must show.

“Don’t be so surprised, I just didn’t want his influence on you any longer. Or would it have been better to have you dispose of him instead?” Lucilius asks with a huff of laughter and turns around as if the topic at hand was just a waste of time.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some other specimens to keep an eye on,” he says and walks away. He disappears with the turn of a corner as Lucifer stands frozen on the spot.

Sandalphon is gone, his own creation was ripped out of his hands and he didn’t even know until it was too late.

“Supreme Primarch?” Gabriel’s distinct voice calls out from behind him, and he buries his thoughts for later. He has a duty to attend to.

“Is something the matter, Gabriel?” he turns around and asks, making sure his hands are beside his torso in their usual places.

“It’s about the problem angel-” she starts, then cuts herself off. “I apologize if I’m intruding, but are you okay, Surpreme Primarch? You look sort of pale.”

Lucifer is surprised that she can notice and silently composes himself. He can’t let it get to him, as much as he feel like he’s on the brink of injuring a few Astrals. He needs to keep it buried, he’s the Supreme Primarch, leader of all angels.

He’ll think it over once he’s done with his duties.

“I’m fine, Gabriel. Now, what were you saying?” he brushes her concern off and instead focuses on what she was going to report.

“Well, the problem angel has been causing more troubles and some of the Astrals are getting tired of him. Other than that, everything else is going smoothly,” she says, accepting his reassurance without a second thought.

“That’s good,” he says with a nod and dismisses her. Gabriel bows then takes her leave. Lucifer closes his eyes, and when he reopens them, he walks in the direction  
to where Azazel is usually hiding. After his small talk with him, he finishes the rest of his seemingly endless duties and goes to the one place where he won’t be disturbed.

Two familiar cups of coffee are brewed as he sits down in the familiar garden chair. He takes small sips from his own cup while the other is left in front of the empty chair, made with no intention to be drank.

It reminds him of Sandalphon, an archangel created only to never be able to fulfill his duty.

Lucifer spends the rest of the little time he has quietly reminiscing of an archangel he will never see again. He doesn’t talk, and the garden feels too quiet, too empty. The knowledge that a certain voice full of purity will never resound in this garden again fills him with an intense sense of discomfort that he can’t identify.

 

* * *

 

  
“Supreme Primarch!” a lower ranking angel rushes over in a flurry of feathers. Lucifer stops his discussion with the four primarchs at the urgency in their voice.

“Is something the matter?” he asks as the angel stops in front of him.

“A group of angels are attacking us! They call themselves the Fallen and their aim is to rebel against the Creator!” the angel says, pointing to the direction of the opposite wing of the place that was known to lead to an open field.

He hears Michael calling for him to wait, but he ignores her as he rushes over. As he gets closer to the window, he can see many streaks of black and other dark colors fleeting across the sky. He stops in front of the window to take the scene in.

Countless angels of different rankings and duties are painted in dark colors, attacking any angels and Astrals they can find. It’s become a complete battlefield as magic projectiles fly and weapons clash, and for a moment, he can only stand there and watch.

“Supreme Primarch!” Michael calls out again as she hurries closer. He snaps out of it and turns around to meet her and the rest. Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel stand behind Michael, alert and waiting for orders.

“We’re descending onto the battlefield,” he says as he spreads his wings out in a show of support. Too many angels have been lost, there must not be anymore casualties.

“Yes, Supreme Primach!” the four shout and manifest their wings, they went out first and he followed. He must command them and lead them before the confusion leads everything to destruction.

“Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel! Spread out and surround them!” he shouts as he unsheathes his own katana. The four give him their unique positive answers as they go carry out his order.

Lucifer himself flies around helping his angels, disabling the fallen as much as he can without immediately killing them. He makes sure all that were fighting know of his presence, to reassure his subjects and bring fear to the fallen.

He puts extra attention on his blade as he disables another fallen, feeling slightly relieved when the fallen lands on the cape of the island, unconscious but alive. He goes deeper among the angels, taking care of more fallen that had almost overwhelm his subjects. A black shadow approaches him at astonishing speeds, and he raises his katana to block the attack.

He meets eyes with crazed light purple eyes, and in his shock almost fails to block the next attack. He pushes the fallen back with a slash and confirms with his own eyes that it is indeed Azazel. It’s a hard fact to swallow, but another angel comes to his aid and disables Azazel before he could do anymore damage.

Something is wrong. Azazel was his usual self the last time he went to check on him, so why...?

He dodges an attack from behind as he flies up, leaving another angel to deal with that particular fallen as he ascends. He floats a distance away from the battlefield, scanning through the fallen. Near Michael was who used to be an obedient data handling angel, but was now a fallen attacking anything they could see. Over that side was another angel that showed no signs of rebelling prior to this, and another one over there.

Lucifer can recognize a large number of the fallen as once loyal and obedient angels. What caused them to turn? Was it his fault, as their superior? If he had kept a closer eye on them, would this have happened?

His thoughts are interrupted by an approaching fallen. They are coming from his side, not as fast as he would expect if they are aiming to best him. He readies his sword as he turns around-

Only to be greeted by an archangel he never thought he would see again.

He freezes as he takes in the archangel in front of him, who is definitely Sandalphon. Sandalphon had changed, of course. The horns, claws and extra wings were proof enough. But underneath he can still see the archangel he had created and loved. Lucilius had said that Sandalphon was disposed of, but if so, then who is the one in front of him right now?

“Lucifer-sama,” the fallen that looks like Sandalphon says, his hands devoid of any weapons and his stance unguarded. Lucifer watches for any signs of charging magic or concealed weapons, but comes out with nothing. The fallen in front of him bears no hostility, despite being in front of one of their biggest enemies.

It makes no sense. But somehow, if Sandalphon was not disposed of, then maybe by some semblance of logic it would all make sense. He doesn’t want to hope, but he can’t help it. As the skydwellers are known to say, you don’t understand how precious something is until you lose it.

“Sandalphon,” Lucifer calls back, lowering his katana. Is this truly Sandalphon? If not, then who is this? He thinks of all available possibilities, but if this was an ambush, then the one in front of him wouldn’t leave themselves so open.

The fallen seems surprised, but smiles nonetheless. The smile is genuine and can’t belong to anyone other than Sandalphon.

“Lucilius said you were disposed of,” he says, still refusing to sheath his katana. The fallen in front of him nods and looks away.

“I was thrown into a room and burnt alive, but a voice called out, and now I’m...” he says without finishing his sentence, looking at his black claws. Lucifer closely watches his every movement as the fallen clutches their claws into fists.

He watches the fallen for another moment before he sheaths katana and flies closer. The fallen- no, Sandalphon looks up with eyes containing both fear and hope. He reaches his hand out, letting it graze Sandalphon’s cheek as a sign of... trust? He never did associate any meaning to this impulsive action he did when he was close to him.

Sandalphon’s eyes widen in surprise and he closes his eyes and tilts his head so the extended hand caresses his cheek. Lucifer is the one surprised by the action, and takes the offer. Sandalphon’s cheek is still the same, soft to the touch.

Sandalphon may look different now, but he is still the same.

“Sandalphon,” he says, this time slightly quieter. Sandalphon opens his eyes at the calling of his name.

His crimson eyes may look more tired and his pupils now black instead of white, but he is still the same.

“Yes, Lucifer-sama?” he responds, his eyes only half open as he waits for Lucifer to talk. It takes a moment for the words to come out.

“Fight by my side,” Lucifer says, retracting his hand and grabbing his blade as he tunes back into the war surrounding them. Sandalphon unsheathes his own blade, spreads his wings as his two purple-, no, black energy swords appear by his side.

He is still the same.

“Let’s go, Sandalphon.”

“Yes, Lucifer-sama.”

And they fly into the carnage, unaware of the many problems ahead of them. Lucilius will not be happy, and the rest of the angels that rebelled... but they don’t matter for now. As long as Sandalphon is by his side, they’ll make it through.

Lucifer swears on the blue skies to not let this second chance slip between his fingers. No matter what happens, he resolves to surpass it all with Sandalphon by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> (Also I've been considering making a discord server for gbf writers, if anyone's interested? Hit me up over on [twitter](https://twitter.com/Koayyy279) if so!!!)


End file.
